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Furyk Mr Las Vegas

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Furyk has played the PGA TOUR stop in the desert gambling resort each of the past 12 years. He's won it three times, was second last year, has finished in the top 10 on six occasions, and out of the top 25 only once.

One-quarter of his 12 career victories have come in Las Vegas. He's earned more than $2 million in 56 trips around the desert layouts, including a fifth-place tie as a rookie on the tour in 1994.

He won in 1995, 1998 and 1999, and just missed a year ago when Wes Short Jr. beat him on the second hole of a playoff.

'You wouldn't stereotypically think of these golf courses as really suiting my game,' Furyk said as he tuned up for the Frys.com Open that begins Thursday. 'Obviously I've been comfortable here.

'I played good here early in my career, so you always have good memories coming back. I enjoy the event, and Las Vegas is a lot of fun.'

The first two rounds will be played on the courses at TPC Summerlin and TPC Canyons, with the final two days at Summerlin, which plays to par 72 at 7,243 yards.

Furyk gazed at the cloudless sky on Wednesday and said, 'It's hard not to like it here. The majority of time we've been here, it seems like it's 80 degrees and sunny and no wind. It's pretty hard not to enjoy a day like this.'

Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champion, has won two tournaments this year and ranks second behind Tiger Woods on the tour money list with $6.4 million in earnings to nearly $10 million for Woods and scoring average (68.88 to 68.11). Woods annually skips the Las Vegas event.

The 36-year-old Furyk keeps his drives mostly down the middle, is accurate with his irons, steady on the greens and very consistent with his all-around game.

'He hits it so straight off the tee, and long,' Short said. 'He usually ends up with a 7- or 8-iron to the green, and he's really good with them.'

The 42-year-old Short, an alternate who drew into the tournament last year, took the lone title of his career with a par to Furyk's bogey on the second hole of their playoff.

Furyk, obviously unhappy at the time with his play on that final hole, said it's all history now.

'It was 52 weeks ago. It's hard to carry that anger over for that long,' he said. 'I didn't finish off the tournament the way I would have liked. I've won here a bunch before, and that takes a little of the sting out it, I guess.'

He smiled and added, 'But it didn't that day.'

Short said, 'It was just good to win. Jim being one of the top players in the world, I guess that made it even more special.'

Short hasn't come close to winning since then, but he can still enjoy some perks that go with that victory, including a prime parking spot as defending champion.

'That's one nice thing about winning,' he said, grinning. 'I'd like a parking spot like that at more tournaments.'